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Pair of Saltcellars
France, ca. 1520–40
Lead-glazed white clay, inlaid with dark clay
AZ037.1: 5 3/4 x 3 3/8 inches (145 x 85 mm.)
AZ037.2: 5 1/2 x 3 3/4 inches (140 x 95 mm.)
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1906; AZ037.1-2
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These elaborate saltcellars, one decorated with salamanders, the emblem of the French king François i (1494–1547), and the other with interlaced crescents, the insignia of Henri II's mistress Diane de Poitiers (1499–1566), are a rare example of the extremely fine, complex ceramics produced during the mid-sixteenth century in France, perhaps at Saint-Porchaire, a town in the southwest. Only about sixty known examples of this so-called Saint-Porchaire ware survive.

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